Karen’s Story

It was a regular night for my best friend Lacy and me. We were driving around looking for money so that we could buy some alcohol and get drunk. We ran into Lacy’s father who bought us a case and some quarts of beer. We decided to go to our friend Malcolm’s house to drink. Well, Malcolm gave us some pills while we were drinking to heighten our buzz. Then we were off to find Sean and Tucker who were always ready for a party. Lacy got into Sean’s car and Tucker got into mine.

I was feeling pretty trashed but I wasn’t going to admit it. I was driving real fast, trying to keep up with Sean and Lacy. Before I knew it, I was going 85 miles per hour. It was scary but I was having fun. Then suddenly Sean turned left out of no where. There was a car right in front of me I ran right into the back of it. When I came to, I was in the back of an ambulance. Lacy kept saying over and over again "You killed them, you killed them." I asked if Tucker was OK but before Lacy answered, I passed out. When I woke up, I was at the hospital. Lacy was there with Sean, she was crying. My mom was there too, crying and saying things that I couldn’t understand. I looked down and saw that my wrist was handcuffed to the bed. I thought that Tucker must be dead.

Before I could ask, a police officer walked in and started reading me my Miranda rights and told me that I was charged with manslaughter. That’s when I found out that it wasn’t Tucker that was dead, it was an innocent 12 year old girl. I was alive and would get over my injuries but I would never get over that night. That was the night my life changed and my real nightmare started. When you pick up a beer and your car keys, stop and think about everything you could lose for the price of a couple of beers.